Twins
by RLS83843
Summary: RileyUhuraPalmer. This story introduces a real medical condition in a Star Trek story, not a disease or birth defect, but a real condition. Never been done before. SNW rejected the story, but I thought you might like it. Have you ever heard of mosaicism?


**Mosaicism is a real medical condition. Author**

From the personal logs of Dr. Leonard McCoy

_...and people wonder why I hate transporters_.

"Space Station D234, this is Enterprise shuttle Icarus requesting landing clearance," Lieutenant Kevin Riley said from the comfort of the pilot's seat.

"Icarus, you are cleared to dock at Docking Port 15. A crew is waiting to unload. your cargo. Thanks for bringing us a new shuttle," the voice coming over the speaker said.

"Any time. Just remember this if we come with our hats in hand asking for a cup of sugar or antimatter. I am reading the beacon. We will be docking in three minutes. Icarus out." As Riley ended the transmission, he looked over to his companion, "Wally, how is the temperature?

"The temperature is fine. How many times have I told you that I hate being called Wally? The name is Wallace," the other man said good naturedly. "I was named after a great man, after all; William Wallace, not William Wally."

"Why didn't your parents name you, William?" Riley asked.

"That's my older bother's name," Wallace said.

Riley shook his head and smiled. Wallace Kellogg was a decent enough sort. He had come on the Enterprise about the same time Riley had, several months before. Though they weren't best friends, Riley liked the man.

The Enterprise was dropping off a new piece of research equipment to the space station along with a new shuttle. The temperature of the equipment had to be maintained between set parameters, and it was too sensitive to be sent through the transporter, so Riley and Kellogg had been assigned to ferry the research equipment and the shuttle to the space station. Afterwards, they would beam back to the Enterprise and it would be off to the next assignment.

After docking with the space station and following the procedures for transferring the equipment, the two men made their way to a transporter room "I wish we had time to stop and do something fun. I haven't been off the ship in three months," said Kellogg.

"Ah what's the matter, Wallace? Are we not amusing enough for you?" Riley teased.

"Oh, you are a barrel of laughs, Kevin, a barrel of laughs," Kellogg said and both men laughed.

. As they entered D234's Transporter Room, the technician on duty was speaking with Transporter Chief Kyle on the Enterprise. "Your people have arrived. One moment, please." Turning to the Enterprise crewmen she said, "We are almost ready to transport. Please take your places on transporter pads"

On the Enterprise, Kyle was looking over the controls for one last time. In the month since Captain Kirk had been split in two, Starfleet had transmitted a series of algorithms to help the transporter computers prevent such a split from happening again. Mr. Scott had complained that the new software had not had enough time to be properly tested, but the order had been given by Starfleet to use the software. Kyle was no more pleased about the hurried up nature of the situation than Mr. Scott was, so he made the point of double checking the controls of the transporter, just in case.

"D234, I read that our transporters are in synch. I am ready to energize," said Kyle.

"Energizing," said the D234 transporter technician.

The process could be easily summed up. D234 started the beam over and the Enterprise finished it. It was a little safer to use two transporters that were in synch than one transporter by itself. That was why, whenever possible, ship-to-ship or ship-to-station beaming was done in the Transporter Rooms of both places.

When the transporter beams reached the Enterprise, Kyle saw that one of the transporter beams was splitting in two and both patterns were going to form on the transporter pads! He tried to send the patterns into the buffer in hopes of being able to straighten out the disaster, but he was too late. Three people materialized instead of two.

Riley glanced over to the other transporter pads in time to see two men collapse into unconsciousness. Neither man looked like Wallace Kellogg, but both resembled him in different ways. One was a little stockier than the other. Riley heard Kyle shout, "Medical emergency in the Transporter Room!" He wondered to himself, "What bullet did I just dodge?"

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Three hours later, Drs. McCoy and M'Benga came into the waiting room. Captain Kirk was there along with Riley and several crew members who were friends of Kellogg.

"How are your patients, Doctor?" Kirk asked.. This wasn't the time for informality.

"Well, they are both stable for now. Thankfully, both of them have solid brain activity. Beyond that, we will just have to wait until they wake up to know more," McCoy said wearily as he and M'Benga each took a seat.

"What happened to him?" Kirk asked.

"Dr. M'Benga has come up with a working hypothesis. I'll let him explain it," said McCoy.

"Have any of you heard of mosaicism?," M'Benga asked.

Everyone had a blank look on their face. M'Benga poured himself a glass of water from a carafe on the table, rose and walked to the end of the room and faced his audience while he took a drink. . "There is a medical condition in which twins will fuse into one another when they are still at the embryonic state of development. We don't know why they do it. We call such fused twins Mosaics. Mr. Kellogg was such a person."

"Is that the same thing as a conjoined twin?" Lieutenant Farrell asked. He continued, "Wallace never said that he was a twin."

"Conjoined twins are two babies who share an organ or a leg. Mosaicism is a total fusion. A child who is born a Mosaic looks perfectly normal. Mosaics live as normal lives as anyone else. The only difference between a normal person and a Mosaic is their DNA. Because Mosaics were originally twins, they have both complete sets of DNA in their bodies. Imagine the kidneys and heart coming from the first child's DNA and the saliva and the muscles coming from the second child's DNA .Lieutenant Kellogg had a body like that.," answered M'Benga.

During the explanation, Spock and Scott had entered the room, quietly. Kirk glanced at them for a second but did not interrupt Dr. M'Benga. "What do you think happened to him?" Kirk asked.

M'Benga paused before he said, "Don't ask me how, but I think that the transporter pulled him apart and reassembled him into the twins that Mr. Kellogg originally was."

There was total silence in the room. M'Benga continued, "One of the men has one set of DNA that made up Mr. Kellogg. The other man has the other set of Mr. Kellogg's DNA."

"What can be done for them?" Kirk asked.

"Until they wake up and we can see what kind of mental shape they are in, there isn't much we can do but wait. Studies indicate that people who are unconscious respond to both music and voices of loved ones. For the time being, I would like his friends to visit them and to let Dr. McCoy and myself know what kind of music they like. Stop thinking of Mr. Kellogg as he and start thinking of him as they." M'Benga said. "Any questions?"

"Why don't they look alike?" asked Riley

"Because Mr. Kellogg's appearance was a mosaic of both sets of DNA. The original twins were fraternal twins, not identical twins. How each of them looks now is how they would have looked like had they been born the twins that they started out to be," answered M'Benga.

As Kellogg's friends started nodding, M'Benga continued, "This is important. They are both Wallace Kellogg. We don't know how much trauma there has been mentally. We are hoping for the best but there is no guarantee that either of them will fully recover. Try to spend an equal amount of time with both of them because they both need an equal amount of help. It is natural for you to gravitate to one or the other. Fight that tendency. These men do not need to have the number of their friends cut in half. That is all I have, Captain."

"Thank you, Doctor, said Kirk.

As Dr. M'Benga left the room, the other crew could tell that the senior officers wanted to talk amongst themselves, so they quietly left.

" Kirk turned to Spock and Scott. "How did this happen, gentlemen?"

"D234 did not have those new safety algorithms installed in their transporters, Captain," said Scott. "Mr. Spock and I are of the opinion that the very slight difference in the software combined with the unusual DNA of poor Kellogg tripped a safety protocol that is designed to prevent two people who are beaming out of a high radiation area from being fused together. As you know, two people can use one personal pad, but it is verra dangerous. That is why Kellogg was beamed onto two pads.

Scott continued, his Scots accent very pronounced as he said, "If your next questions is; can we use the transporter to reintegrate him? The answer is probably not without killing him. When you were split in two and we reintegrated you, genetically, both halves of you were the same person. With him, we are dealing with two people now. Sorry Captain."

There was a silence for several seconds. Kirk looked at Scott. "Scotty can this happen to someone else?"

"If it happened once, then it can happen again. I dinna know the odds, but it is possible," said the Chief Engineer.

"The odds would depend upon various factors such as how many Mosaics there are in the galaxy, as well as how often would they use transporters with the same difference in software application. The odds of such a reoccurrence would be.."Spock started.

"That's not necessary to report Mr. Spock," Kirk interrupted. "Let me rephrase the question. Doctor, are any other crew members at risk?"

McCoy ran a query from the medical computer which reported that no one else on the Enterprise was a Mosaic.

"Good," said Kirk. "Bones, I know that you and M'Benga are tired, but I need a preliminary medical report from you within half an hour. That goes for you too, Scotty. We have to notify Starfleet about this, before it happens to someone else." Kirk rose to his feet. "Bones keep me appraised as to how they are doing

Captains log Stardate 2012.6

_Starfleet Command has responded to my report on Lieutenant Kellogg by ordering that all Starfleet personnel be scanned for mosaicism and that Mosaics were not to use transporters except in dire emergencies until further notice. Due to the public nature of that order, the news media have discovered what has happened to Lieutenant Kellogg. Lieutenant Uhura has deflected two requests for interviews. I am grateful that the time I was split in two was brief and did not make the news_.

It was the next afternoon when the thinner Kellogg woke up. Lieutenant Palmer and Lieutenant Farrell were playing cribbage at his bedside when he groaned. The screen above his biobed started chiming. A song from Kellogg's music collection was softly playing in the background.

"How are you feeling, Wallace?" asked Farrell.

"Thirsty," he whispered.

Farrell held a glass of water for Kellogg while he drank from a straw. As he finished, Doctors McCoy and M'Benga entered the room with big smiles on their faces.. "It is nice that you are awake, You gave us quite a scare there. How are you feeling?" said McCoy as he turned off the alarm.

"Terrible," Kellogg answered in a raspy voice. I feel as if I have been pulled through a tube of toothpaste. I hurt all over. What happened?"

"What is the last thing that you remember?" McCoy asked.

"Riley and I had just docked the shuttle." Kellogg said.

"There was an accident. You're back on the Enterprise, in Sickbay. You have been unconscious for twenty-six hours," M'Benga said as McCoy was running a medical scanner over him in addition to the information that he was reading over the biobed. "I can give you a mild sedative which should help you sleep. Afterwards, you should feel a lot better."

As M'Benga gave Kellogg the sedative, the alarm went off announcing the other Kellogg was awakening. McCoy went in to see him, while M'Benga stayed with the first Kellogg. It was a near identical scene.

After seeing to the stockier Kellogg, McCoy said to M'Benga, "It looks like they will both recover. Now the hard part begins."

The next morning, the stockier Kellogg woke first. Riley was sitting next to his bed. "Hey sleepyhead, about time you woke up," he teased.

Kellogg wiped the sleep from his eyes. He looked at the palm of his hand. He looked at the back side of his hand as the monitor over his biobed began to thump louder, indicating an increase in his heartbeat.

"Kevin, what happened to my hand?" said Kellogg. He sat up quickly, almost losing his balance before putting his hands behind his back on the biobed to stabilize himself. He swung his legs over the side of the biobed and as soon as he had his balance, Kellogg started looking at his hands more closely. He brought his right ankle up quickly and put it over his left knee and looked at his foot. The medical jumper prevented him from looking at his chest.

"Kevin, what's wrong with me?" Kellogg said in a rising voice as McCoy walked in to the room.

McCoy said, in his most authoritative voice, "Lieutenant, calm down and everything will be explained to you. There was an accident. Panicking won't help."

It took Kellogg a couple of seconds to regain some composure. "Okay," he said. His was breathing heavily."In a nutshell, what happened?"

McCoy said, in a much more gentle voice, "Did you know that when your mother was pregnant with you, for a time, you were a twin?"

"Yes. I found out about it the first time I went through a transporter. The twins fused into one person. So what?," Kellogg replied.

"When you beamed aboard the Enterprise, the transporter split you into the twins that you originally were. Your brother is asleep in the next room," said McCoy.

"My brother, huh?" said Kellogg. He scratched his forehead and then he started to run his fingers over his face. He rose to his feet and staggered. If Riley hadn't supported him, Kellogg would have fallen. "Help me get to the mirror," he said.

Riley helped him get to a mirror.

The stockier Wallace Kellogg looked at his new face for a moment before he said softly, "When I was a kid, some people would tell me that I looked like my grandfather. Others would say I looked like my dad. Well, there's no doubt about it now. I definitely look like my grandfather."

Kellogg looked at McCoy and asked, "So what does the other one look like?"

"Do you want to go see?" asked McCoy.

"No," said Kellogg. "I just want to avoid him for the time being. I know that I will have to deal with him at some point, but I would rather not do it, today."

McCoy looked down for a second and said, "You are right, Wallace. You don't have to deal with your brother right now. Let's get you back to bed. You need some more rest."

Riley and McCoy helped him get back to bed. Kellogg fell asleep within a minute.

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Chief Medical Officer's Log Stardate 2013

_Both patients have regained their strength within two days of first waking up. They have both steadfastly refused to see one another. I have no medical reason to keep them in Sickbay. Dr. M'Benga has suggested that each be released to different quarters than what Kellogg had used when they were a Mosaic. The last thing that we want is for either one of them to feel as if he is some kind of imposter. _

The stockier Kellogg entered the lounge. The room was full of off duty personnel. Nurse Chapel and Yeoman Rand were working on an art project at one table. Stiles and D'Amato were playing tri-D chess at another. A lot of others were gathered around Uhura, listening to her sing. Kellogg joined them.

At first everything was fine. Uhura finished her song to the typical applause that she always got when she sang. As the crowd broke up, some people noticed him and they stared. Other people noticed him and they tried to avoid looking at him. The tension in the room was noticeable.

Kellogg felt very self conscious with everyone staring or trying not to stare at him. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to say when Uhura walked up to him and took both of his hands in hers and said, "Wallace, it is good to see you out of Sickbay. Has your brother been released?"

"Oh him? Yes, I, think he was released," he said, sounding slightly distracted. Changing the subject, he said, "You sounded great!"

"Thanks. I have liked that song for a long time. Why don't you join us," she asked as most of the people around them had drifted to other parts of the lounge.

"Are you I will be welcome? A lot of people seem uncomfortable around me," he said.

"I am sitting with Riley and Sulu. They were both at your bedside. Come on." Uhura led him to a table where Riley and Sulu were talking. Noticing their approach, both men smiled and commented about how good it was to see Kellogg up and about.

Kellogg thanked them but there was a nervousness about his demeanor as he sat down. "Is it my imagination, or is everyone staring at me? Its as if they expect me to jump on a table with a knife or something, like Joe did."

There was a slight pause before anyone said anything. There was a quick glance between the three as if to determine was going to answer.

"I don't think it is you that they are staring at, Wallace. It is what you represent," said Riley

"Wh-what do you think I represent?" Kellogg asked.

"The knowledge that this is not a safe business," he answered.

"Huh?" Kellogg said.

"Wallace, you know that, most of the time, when something happens to someone out here, they go to Sickbay and get well or they die. Sometimes, something happens to someone that is so bad that the doctors can't cure, but they live. When that happens, people get really uncomfortable around that person. It isn't you. It is the fear that the next time something happens to someone, it will happen to them," said Riley.

"I don't know. It looks more like they expect me to act like Joe did before he suicided," said Kellogg.

"Give it a little time," said Riley.

"Hey Riley, I have never seen you so full of advice. How did you get so smart?" asked Sulu.

"We Irish have always been wise people, didn't you know that?" Riley said jokingly. He sobered.

"You know what happened to my parents, right?" asked Riley

"Sure, they were victims of the Kodos Massacre," said Sulu.

"I was still a boy when that happened. After my parents died, my grandparents finished raising me. They made me go to some grief counselors. I must have gotten something out of those sessions. Here I am, quoting their advice," said Riley in his humble, self deprecating tone.

"Did you ever consider becoming a grief counselor, Riley?" Uhura asked.

"No. I joined Starfleet to stop bad things from happening. A counselor doesn't do that. I am not a militant, but I feel that Captain Kirk understands how to use diplomacy to make things better and when people are intractable, to know when to use force to achieve peace. That is why I like being on the Enterprise," said Riley.

"Have you ever considered the Diplomatic Corps?" asked Sulu.

"Me. Kevin Riley. The Great Irish Diplomat?" said Kevin with a touch of humor in his voice.

"The Diplomatic Corps tries to stop little fights from becoming big fights. You ought to think about it," said Sulu.

Kellogg piped in, "Just don't become one of those pompous ambassadors who has to be at Beta Zeta Eta 12 yesterday or the Federation will end." Everyone laughed the laugh of bitter experience.

Kellogg spent the next hour with Riley, Sulu and Uhura. Several people came over to say it was good to see him up and about including Chapel, Rand and Stiles. When Kellogg left the recreation lounge, he realized that he had a good time.

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The thinner Wallace Kellogg was sitting in the observation deck. Unlike the lounges on the ship, it was generally accepted that unless people came in together the observation deck was for people who wanted to be alone with their thoughts. Wallace had a lot to think about. There was a man who possessed all of his memories, knew all of his darkest secrets and was supposedly his brother. That was a lot to take in.

He felt that something was not right. It did not help that when he went by a mirror, he saw a face that he did not recognize. His body felt weird. It was a stranger's body, not his. Though that really bothered him, there was more to it than that. Part of him was...missing. He could sense it. It didn't take a genius to figure out where that missing part went, either. Since the other one would permanently have that part of himself, Wallace wondered if he would ever feel normal again.

What was he going to do with his life? Would his parents accept him or would they think of him as some kind of döppelganger? He thought back to the fights that he and William had when they were young children. He remembered accusing William of being their parents' favorite son. What if they liked the other Wallace more than him? He knew that, intellectually, his parents would not throw him out, but one's heart and one's intellect usually only bore a passing acquaintance with the other and Wallace felt very insecure that evening.

After about an hour of brooding, he decided to do something to get his mind off of his problems. A couple of days before the accident, he had started a book that his mother had recommended. He went to his old quarters to get it. He could have downloaded the book onto a padd in his new quarters, but his mother had given him the padd that was in his old quarters and because she had given it to him, he really wanted to use it.

As he approached his old quarters, he saw Lieutenant Palmer in the corridor. He went to enter his quarters and walked right into the door. He yelped. He rubbed his cheek as Palmer laughingly asked if he was all right.

"I'm fine," he answered. "I would like to know why the door did not open." He walked over to the nearest wall speaker and pressed the communications button. "Computer, why is cabin 2D-40 locked?"

"Cabin 2D-40 is locked by order of the Chief Medical Officer," answered the computer in its robotic voice.

"Well, I need to get in there. Open the door, authorization Lieutenant Wallace Kellogg." he said, tersely.

"Access denied, the computer answered. "The Chief Medical Officer is a senior officer. Secondary reason is that the voiceprint submitted is not that of Lieutenant Kellogg. Security has been notified of unauthorized attempted entry."

"Great," he said with disgust as he turned off the speaker. "Not only can I not get into my cabin, I am about to get all of Security to know that I don't even register as me on a voiceprint. That will make me look even more freakish. This day just keeps getting better and better."

"It could be worse," Palmer said as McCoy and a security team walked around the corner.

"Worse? How? How Ann?" Kellogg's voice increased in volume. The security guards had their hands on the butts of their phasers and tried to look intimidating. Kellogg ignored them as his tirade continued.

"How could it possibly be worse? Everyone looks at me as if I have grown a second head and you know what? They're right! My body doesn't feel right. I don't recognize myself in the mirror anymore. I am worried about how my parents will react and I don't know if I still have a job in Starfleet! How could this possibly be any worse?" shouted the thinner Kellogg.

"Well," she said meekly. "You could have been married. How much worse would you feel if you had a wife and she had to choose between the two of you and you lost her?"

The thinner Kellogg just stared at her. He was about to say something, when someone started laughing. He spun around, ready to lay into whoever had the temerity to laugh at him and his situation when he saw that the person doubled up with laughter was his brother. The resemblance to grandpa couldn't be on anyone else's face.

The stockier Kellogg looked at the thinner Kellogg and when he caught his breath said, "She's right you know. What are you going to do? You can either laugh about the situation or cry about it." He kept laughing. After a few seconds, the laughter became crying as all of the stress caught up to the stockier Kellogg at once. The thinner Kellogg just stared at his brother, without moving or saying anything.

Chief Medical Officer's Log Stardate 2015.4

_Both Wallace Kelloggs have been transferred to the USS Palouse, which will take them to Starbase 19 where they will undergo full physical and psychological examinations. I was surprised by the willingness of both men to be beamed over to the Palouse. The thinner one said that he had already been killed once by the transporter and lightning never struck twice in the same place. _

_From the medical tests that I have run, there is no obvious physical reason that these men cannot live full lives. Both men are suffering from extreme psychological stress that a Starship's medical facilities can not address. Their future in Starfleet is uncertain. I hope that with time, support from family and friends and counseling, both men will learn to adjust to being the people that they are now._


End file.
